Why Should I Care About Language?

‘Twas the nocturnal segment of the diurnal period preceding the annual Yuletide celebration, and throughout our place of residence, kinetic activity was not in evidence among the possessors of this potential, including that species of domestic rodent known as Mus musculus.

Doesn’t that sound ridiculous?

There’s a desire at this time of year for things to be familiar, even an out loud goal of “going home for the holidays,” that sense of home ranging from baking grandma’s cookies to watching It’s a Wonderful Life for the 30th time. We yearn to create again a sense of wonder, of joy, and of love. In all of that, there’s the pleasure in having been somewhere before, and winding together that remembered pleasure with the present experience.

Words matter. For better – when you hear a phrase that excites or comforts; for worse – when we scoff or ignore what’s said.

What does this have to do with your messaging?

Sometimes, for something to resonate with us, it needs to have a reminder of something familiar. We need little things to catch our attention, so that we can connect with the larger idea. For instance, if you go to a new restaurant, you probably want to know what sort of meat is in that dish, or that you’ve enjoyed the main flavors before. If you’re like me, you need to know if a dish has eggplant in it, because that will just ruin the whole thing.

Well, you might have the best thing out there, but if people don’t know what you’re talking about, they probably won’t be interested. Even worse, if you share the news in a way that turns them off (like that awful contractual opening to ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas above). Find a way to resonate with them – remind them that they’ve enjoyed something similar, or give them little places to catch hold of your big idea.

Chances are, you have something great. Whether it’s a service you offer, a new tool you’ve developed, or literally a better way to slice bread. Now, you just need to let other people know about it!

And that usually means sharing information where people are, in a way that catches their attention, and connects with them.

Keep it simple – plain English is a magical thing.

Sometimes the simplest, most concrete language can resonate the most. Nearly everyone gets a clear picture when they hear “apple,” or “family” (even though we might all have distinct kinds of families, or like various kinds of apples). But picturing abstract concepts, like “courage” or the “diurnal period preceding the annual Yuletide celebration” gets a little harder.